The second half of that assignment sounds strange. Shouldn't the space professionals already be cheering? But several panels at this month's Von Braun Space Symposium in Huntsville did a lot of venting about the future. Good things are happening in space, panelists agreed, but there are nagging issues - too many nagging issues -- that threaten America's progress in space. And they start with the marketplace.

On the launch side, American companies launched either zero or one commercial satellite last year, depending on how you count it. The American launches that did occur by companies like United Launch Alliance (ULA) were satellites for government clients such as the Navy and Air Force. ULA assembles its launch vehicles in Decatur.

What caused the launch slump? Panelists cited a variety of factors including tough competition from foreign, government-supported launch companies such as Arianaspace.

"The companies you are competing with are not commercial companies," said ULA Vice President George Sowers. "They are basically government-owned, government financed entities."

That bad run may be ending, however, according to Alex Saltzman, executive director of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation in Washington. "Over the last decade, fewer commercial satellites have been launched on American rockets, culminating in a particularly slow year in 2011," Saltzman said in an interview after the conference. "However, American launch companies have won several important international satellite launch contracts, and prospects for the future look bright."

On the government side, NASA is trying to forge a commercial supply chain to deliver cargo and eventually astronauts to the International Space Station. SpaceX docked its Dragon capsule at the station this month. But how long will the space station be there? And will the station provide enough business to justify the investments that companies such as SpaceX, Orbital Sciences, Sierra Nevada and Boeing are making?

"You've got a pretty good variety of launch providers here that are developing systems that could make this country No. 1 in the world again in terms of launching," one commercial company's vice president said during a panel discussion. "We just really need the people to ride along and use our services."

That comment touched on the third big worry in the space community. Will there be enough people wanting seats on all of the spaceships now on the drawing board or in development? For companies that must make a profit for their shareholders, it's a real concern when the only destination out there now is NASA's space station.

"I really worry about the crew ... ," the executive said. "Having just one customer for the crew transportation at this point is a major concern of mine and all of the people that are working on it, I'm sure. We need people to come up with reasons to fly or more people on the space station until other stations come along. "

Even the big new rocket NASA is developing in Huntsville didn't escape the conference without a dunking in the doubt pool. Veteran U.S. Senate aide Jeff Bingham, a space expert who helped draft NASA's last three authorization bills, said the Space Launch System "is designed to fail, in a sense."

"One cargo flight in 2017, one crewed flight in 2021," Bingham said of NASA's schedule, "is not sustainable politically."

Bingham clarified his comments to say that he didn't mean NASA's plan for building the launch system is not sustainable. The agency is making good progress on the flat budget it has been given, he said. But the flight schedule isn't robust enough to get anyone but insiders excited about America's future in human spaceflight.

It wasn't all gloom and doom at the symposium. NASA Associate Administrator Robert Lightfoot insisted the space agency is making steady progress. It might not be getting there as fast as some people want, and it might not be the precise direction some people want, but "we are getting there."

Ann Zulkosky, a staff member of the Senate Commerce Committee, also got a lot of nods when she stressed the need for everyone in the space community to remember that they thrive together or fail apart. "It's an 'and' issue," Zulkosky said. Commercial and government. Democrats and Republicans. Congress and the White House.

"Sustainability in the end is going to have to come from the public," Bingham said. He said the space community must be able to answer a simple question: "What does exploring space do for the public, the economy and the nation that's of value?"

Several answers to that question were offered over the week. Space exploration touches national security, national preminence, and national priorities in technology, education and development. Several times, panelists cited the mania over the Mars Curiosity rover and the final flights of retiring space shuttles as proof that public interest survives.

The question is whether the space community can leverage that interest to keep even NASA's small share of the federal budget - 1 percent -- intact in a time of tight money and competing programs. Bingham thinks the money is there. "You cannot tell me this country cannot support a more viable space program," he said.